Newcastle United's owner, Mike Ashley, last night failed in a dramatic attempt to lure Kevin Keegan back to the club as manager, little more than a week after the former England coach quit saying conditions there made his job intolerable.

Keegan and Ashley spent yesterday evening locked in talks, their first since the acrimonious split. But the prolonged discussions failed to end in a rapprochement and, with no further meetings planned, the always slender likelihood of Keegan resuming the job he left just nine days ago now appears remote.

On one of the more surreal days in Newcastle's often bizarre history, Keegan travelled to London yesterday to meet Ashley, the billionaire owner of Sports Direct, in a borrowed West End office and it is understood that having initially discussed a severance deal the subject of his potential reinstatement was raised.

Yet as bookmakers stopped taking bets on Keegan being back in charge for today's game at home to Hull, those talks were seemingly becoming strained. Shortly after 8pm Ashley departed the building by the front door and refused to comment to reporters before being driven away. Keegan apparently slipped out undetected by a rear exit and, at around 10.30pm, the League Managers Association issued a statement on his behalf.

"The League Managers Association can confirm that talks to resolve several issues were held today between Kevin Keegan and Mike Ashley of Newcastle United Football Club," it said. "However, the discussion failed to reach a satisfactory conclusion."

Ashley had been in New York when Keegan resigned after a row with Dennis Wise, Newcastle's director of football, and Derek Llambias, the club's managing director, last week and yesterday was their first face-to-face meeting since.

While Ashley is understood to have been taken aback by the outraged reaction of Newcastle fans to Keegan's departure - protests are planned at St James' Park today - it was always difficult to envisage a compromise being achieved which would have enabled Keegan to enjoy a satisfactory working relationship with Wise.

There had been suggestions he would be asked to return in a shamelessly populist advance of a takeover by the Indian billionaire Anil Ambani's Reliance group. Last night, however, a spokesman for the group said: "We are no longer interested in buying Newcastle because of the turbulent conditions which currently exist there and because we have been unable to have satisfying talks with anyone from the club."

Ambani may now turn his attentions to Everton. This week his representatives contacted Bill Kenwright, Everton's owner, and asked if he would be willing to enter talks. Kenwright, who has appointed Keith Harris of Seymour Pearce to flush out potential investors, is understood to have responded positively and could meet Ambani's representatives next week.

Ashley, meanwhile, insists he is in control of Newcastle for the long haul and has a five-year plan for the club. With Keegan no longer part of that blueprint, his immediate task is to appoint a replacement manager and he already has a three-man shortlist comprising Paul Ince, Gus Poyet and Didier Deschamps. With yesterday's meeting in London on the agenda the recruitment process had been placed on hold but now that Keegan appears out of the equation Ashley is expected to address the issue at a board meeting on Monday.